


In which Arthur and Merlin are dating even though Arthur says that they aren't, and they get married in the end. Also they have sex.

by Ren



Series: Summer Pornathon 2011 [6]
Category: Merlin - Fandom
Genre: Community: summerpornathon, M/M, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-21
Updated: 2011-08-21
Packaged: 2017-10-22 21:51:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/242948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ren/pseuds/Ren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur and Merlin are dating even though Arthur says that they aren't, and they get married in the end. Also they have sex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In which Arthur and Merlin are dating even though Arthur says that they aren't, and they get married in the end. Also they have sex.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Challenge 6, happy endings @ [](http://summerpornathon.livejournal.com/profile)[**summerpornathon**](http://summerpornathon.livejournal.com/). This was my favourite challenge, maybe because I totally cheated on the "porn" part.

If in his freshman year someone had told Arthur that in a few years' time he'd be happily married to Merlin, he would have laughed and then asked them if they were on drugs. Merlin had been the bane of Arthur's existence ever since their first day when, on the campus tour, Merlin had made a remark about the tacky bust in front of the library. Arthur had replied that it was a bust of his father, who was one of the college's staunchest supporters, and then he'd said something very nasty about Merlin's father. Merlin had said that his father was dead. From that, things had gone steadily worse.

It was unbelievable how many friends he and Merlin had in common. They ended up seeing each other all the time at Gwen's birthday, at Morgana's party, at Gwaine's drunken sleepover and so on. The only thing that stopped them from jumping at each other's throats was the liberal amount of alcohol that was usually available. Not because alcohol made them more agreeable, but because it was harder for Arthur to punch Merlin on the nose when he was so drunk he couldn't aim.

The catastrophe happened a few years after their first meeting. Afterwards, Arthur wouldn't recall what happened precisely, or whose party it was, or why he was sitting on the couch next to Merlin to begin with. It went something like this. Arthur called Merlin a big-eared git, then Merlin called Arthur a prat, then Arthur grabbed the front of Merlin's shirt and kissed him. Instead of pushing Arthur away, Merlin tangled his fingers in Arthur's hair and stuck his tongue inside Arthur's mouth. After a while, they both remembered that they were on someone else's couch and wisely decided to go back to Arthur's place before having sex.

The morning after, Arthur panicked. There were plenty of reasons for panicking, like the fact that he'd just slept with Merlin of all people, and he hated Merlin, and besides he was straight. Arthur firmly believed that a couple of drunken fumbles weren't enough to make him gay or bi, they just meant he should stop drinking so much. Arthur felt very much cross because, while he occasionally had dreams about tearing off Merlin's clothes with his teeth, he thought that ravishing Merlin would have gotten rid of what Morgana called the unresolved sexual tension between them. Besides, Arthur had vague recollections of Merlin on top of him asking him if it was his first time and promising to be gentle. This bothered Arthur because he was most certainly not gay, but if he had been he would have been on top. The worst part was that, while Arthur was having this perfectly legitimate freakout, Merlin was puttering around Arthur's flat wearing nothing but his boxers and making pancakes, which made Arthur angry because he felt that Merlin should stop being so unreasonably reasonable and panic a little too. Arthur ate the pancakes anyway. They were good.

Somehow, the drunken and ill-advised one-night stand turned into a slightly more sober but still ill-advised two-nights stand, and then into an even more ill-advised three-nights stand that couldn't be justified by alcohol any more. Arthur wasn't dating Merlin because he still hated Merlin and he was still straight, but the two of them did go on several outings that were most certainly not dates and they did have a lot of sex. Even so, Arthur would have glared at anyone who asked if Merlin was his boyfriend.

All was well until one night at a club a girl tried to hit on Merlin while Arthur was getting their drinks. Arthur slammed down the glasses on the table and wrapped one arm around Merlin's waist and told the girl to back off from his boyfriend. Merlin's ears went red and then Arthur's brain caught up with his mouth and he dragged Merlin to the restrooms and blew him because anything was better than having a conversation on whether he really meant what he said. Besides, Arthur loved the noises that Merlin made as he came. They barely managed to make it home before round two.

Home was actually Arthur's flat. Merlin was still living with Gwaine, but Gwaine was the worst roommate ever and he kept leering at Arthur and dropping hints about threesomes, and Arthur could never figure out whether he was joking or not. So Merlin spent a lot of time at Arthur's place. It only made sense that Merlin had his own toothbrush next to Arthur's and his shampoo in the shower and half of the dresser for his clothes. It didn't mean that Merlin was living with Arthur.

Arthur carried on without placing any labels on their relationship. They went grocery shopping together and had fights because Merlin was a vegetarian and Arthur loved burgers. Merlin cooked while Arthur hovered and complained about carrots. They spent the weekend sprawled on the couch watching reruns of Doctor Who and arguing on the respective merits of David Tennant and Matt Smith. But that was okay in Arthur's mind because they were all activities that he could do with a friend too, albeit a friend with whom he often had sex. Arthur felt he couldn't ignore the sex part, since it was fairly mind-blowing.

Then one day Merlin went to one knee and asked Arthur to marry him. Arthur was very put-out, since he'd been planning his own proposal and it involved sky writing and a hundred red roses and a custom-made engagement ring, but he said yes anyway. They went back to Merlin's place to get the rest of Merlin's stuff, since even Arthur had to admit that Merlin was living with him now. Gwaine gave them a weird look and said he thought Merlin had moved out a year ago, and then he offered to organize their bachelor party. They turned his offer down, which was wise because otherwise they would have died of alcohol poisoning.

After a couple of months they got married and they lived happily ever after, aside from the moments when they were arguing over stupid things like which movie to watch after dinner.


End file.
